Progress

9,244 signed

756 more needed

Share
this on

Sign the Petition to

Cargill CEO Gregory Page

Dear Gregory Page,

I will not stand for child and slave labor in my food.

In a Businessweek article released July 18, Cargill's supplier Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) was exposed for its significant abuses of workers, some of whom are children. KLK laborers describe being defrauded, abused, and held captive. Many had their national identity cards and school certificates confiscated to prevent them from escaping. Others who tried to escape were publicly beaten.

Yet, Cargill defended KLK's practices.

This is an outrage. Cargill must adopt comprehensive safeguards to prevent palm oil connected to slave and child labor, human rights abuses and rainforest destruction from tainting the worlds food supply.

I implore you take these allegations seriously and own up to your role in ensuring that the world's palm oil supply is free from human and labor rights abuses and deforestation. Until you do, consumers like me will hold you and your customers accountable.

"Adam, the 19-year-old who fled the PT 198 [palm] plantation in 2010, says he hopes shoppers ask themselves a simple question when they consider which oil to buy: 'Is there slavery in this?'"

That's a very good question to ask, but unfortunately most folks are not asking it when they go to the store to do their shopping. While the environmental impacts of the palm oil industry on Indonesia's rainforests get a lot of attention, human rights abuses like forced and child labor are less widely known. The Bloomberg piece, which is based on a nine-month investigation, documents the abusive labor practices on a plantation owned by one of the biggest palm oil companies in Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK).

What was the response to this report from Cargill, which received "at least 31 shipments of palm oil from KLK, totaling more than 61 million pounds, over the last three years," palm oil that has now been documented to have been made at least partially by workers and children forced into slave labor conditions? Cargill's response was the same as it's ever been, denial.

It's time to tell Cargill, the leading supplier of palm oil in the US, that we will not stand for child and slave labor in our food.